I know you’ve heard the term SEO a lot in this digital age, but do you really know what it is? Have you ever wondered what is SEO and how does it affect you?
Well, ask no more because in this blog post we will break down what SEO is, why you need it, and when you should implement SEO on your website.
If a person is looking for a wedding shop in Cape Town, they are going to use Google or any Search Engine (SE) they prefer and type in the query “wedding stores near me” or “what are the best bridal shops in Cape Town.”
If you own a wedding store then you would want to show up in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for that search query. The only way to show up on the first page of the SERPs and rank highly in the organic results is through SEO.
What do I mean organic results? So, organic results are the 10 results you get in the SERPs that are not influenced by any advertising. You cannot pay Google to rank you highly in organic search results.
Google will only rank you higher if your website has authority, is relevant to the search query and is mobile friendly amongst other elements, and this is where SEO comes in.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. There are many ways to define SEO but the most basic explanation would be making sure that a business or product appears in the SERPs when someone searches for that business or product related query.
Many ways to achieve this is by looking at on-page elements such as the content on your site, and off-page elements such as building links, the display, and the user experience on your website.
For you to rank highly in the SERPs you need to be relevant to a user’s query. You need to have authority (meaning you need to be the go-to website for info and product-related queries) and other websites need to link back to you.
You need to be relevant to a search query, you need to know what people are searching for, and what terms or keywords are they using to ask that question or search that query.
If a user is searching for the best bridal stores in Cape Town, how are you showing up in the SERPs, how are you answering their question, which keywords are you using, and how relevant is your website to their query? You must remember that users are not the same, the way they search is also not the same and you must cater to them differently.
Why do you need SEO
- It’s a way for you to rank highly in the SERPs without paying Search Engines for advertising.
- You get a lot of organic traffic which leads to conversions, sales or reaching a broad audience.
- It helps you stay ahead of your competitors by optimising your website and implementing best practices from Google and other Search Engines.
- To give users a great experience when they come to your website.
- It helps create good and relevant content on your site.
- You get to rank for relevant keywords
- To get trust and become an authority in your field.
- Your website will not be penalised if you follow Google’s best practices.
When should you start implementing SEO?
The answer is before you even create a website. SEO should not be implemented in the later stages of your website. It should be the first thing you think about when you create a website, however, if your website is not optimised at the beginning then don’t panic, you can still implement SEO. You just need to understand that it takes time. There are many people out there that will tell you that they can do your SEO in a week or a few days but you should beware of such people. SEO is not a quick fix. It’s not one of those miracle elixirs, 123 and you are healed (if there is such a thing). SEO is a process and an investment in your website.
There are a lot of elements to focus on for a website to be SEO friendly. There are on-page elements that can be seen by the user and off-page elements that happen behind the scenes or in the HTML code. Basically, SEO takes time, you need to use various tools and personnel to fix certain issues or record them and make recommendations on all those fixes, so it’s definitely not a quick fix. As Warren Buffett once said: “No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.” What you should get from this quote is that producing a baby is a process, same with SEO.
If all this sounds too much for you then don’t worry, that’s why you have Sprout Performance. What makes us different is that we use our touch-tell-sell model to take you and the user through the journey to conversion, sales and reaching a broad audience, plus we are transparent. Need more proof? Read testimonials from our clients or you can get in touch with us to know more.